The White Stork as an Engineering Species and Seed Dispersal Vector when Nesting in Poland

2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Czarnecka ◽  
Ignacy Kitowski
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitja Kaligarič ◽  
Jožica Brecl ◽  
Sonja Škornik

AbstractThere is a general decline of grasslands across Europe due to habitat loss and degradation. Ensuring plant dispersal thus becomes a key process for preserving grassland patches in all scales. We examined diaspore dispersal by sheep epizoochory in the pastures of the North Adriatic Karst (NW Slovenia) and determined the qualitative and quantitative features of diaspores in fur. We recorded 25,650 diaspores of 141 plant taxa (with 107 taxa and 23,350 diaspores determined to species level), using three different methods: (i) the “whole-coat method”, (ii) the “part-of-thecoat method” and (iii) a “seedling emergence method”. A comparison of these techniques revealed that the “wholecoat method” provided the highest number of diaspores and plant species. All diaspores were clustered into five emergent groups based on seven functional traits (diaspore weight, length, width, height, volume, specific weight and the diaspore surface structure). Our research revealed that sheep represent an important dispersal vector, since about half of the plant species recorded in the pastures were found as diaspores in fur. This study contributes to knowledge about the modes of seed dispersal in seminatural grasslands. Taking into account that livestock play a key role in vegetation dynamics, understanding their effects on seed dispersal is essential for conservation and restoration of these species-rich grassland communities.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1149
Author(s):  
Gerriet Fokuhl ◽  
Jürgen Heinze ◽  
Peter Poschlod

For Central European herbs, ants are one common dispersal vector acting at relatively small spatial scales. Though extensively studied concerning the different benefits to plants, specific dispersal patterns mediated by ants have been reportedly very sparsely and without any validation. Thus, we studied the seed dispersal pattern of a set of myrmecochorous plant species in a novel mesocosm experiment. We examined the seed dispersal distances of four forest herbs (Hollow Root–Corydalis cava (L.) Schweigg. & Körte, Alpine Squill–Scilla bifolia L., and Common Dog-violet–Viola riviniana Rchb. and the annual Ivy-leaved Speedwell–Veronica hederifolia L.) by the red ant Myrmica ruginodis Nylander in 8.25 m² large plots under natural conditions with and without ants. In the presence of Myrmica ants, the bulb geophytes C. cava and S. bifolia showed a significantly higher fraction of dispersed seedlings and a maximum dispersal distance of 322 cm. Estimated by nearest neighbor analyses, distances between single C. cava seedlings were significantly higher in ant plots than in exclosures without ants. The annual species Veronica hederifolia showed a few dispersed seedlings in ant plots only, while the diplochorous hemicryptophyte Viola riviniana germinated in a widely scattered manner with distances up to 241 cm due to ballochorous dispersal in both ant and exclosure plots, but with a maximum of 324 cm only by means of ants. Our results indicate the escape from the mother plant and dispersal for distance as an important benefit for myrmecochorous species, potentially accompanied by benefits through reduced competition.


Behaviour ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 359-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Beaune ◽  
François Bretagnolle ◽  
Loïc Bollache ◽  
Gottfried Hohmann ◽  
Barbara Fruth

In an Afrotropical forest, we tested the hypothesis that fleshy-fruit plants with interspecific differences in fruit quality and quantity affect ranging behaviour of their seed dispersal vector. If fruiting plants could affect their dispersal vector, the plants also affect their seed dispersal distance and eventually their plant population biology. From 2007 to 2011, we measured seed transport by georeference daily bonobo group movements via GPS. Seed dispersal distance was estimated with mechanistic model, using 1200 georeferenced dispersal events and the average seed transit time through bonobo (24.00 h). We compared dissemination for eight plant species that deal with this trade-off: attracting dispersers by means of fruit quality/quantity versus retaining them in the patch because of the same quality/quantity value that attracted them. Because fruit traits of these eight species were different, we expected a difference in seed dispersal distance. Surprisingly, seed dispersal distances induced by bonobos were not affected by fruit traits. Although fruit nutrient contents, abundance and average patch feeding duration differed between plant species, patch feeding time was not related to subsequent dispersal distances. The apes’ dispersal distance survey gave an average dispersal distance estimated of 1332 ± 24 m from the parent plant (97.9% > 100 m). To conclude, feeding time invested in the patch, fruit quality and abundance had no apparent effect on bonobo seed dispersal distance. The possible effects in plant population biology are discussed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18
Author(s):  
Luciane Lopes de Souza

Biotic or abiotic processes of seed dispersal are important for the maintenance of the diversity, and for the natural regeneration in tropical forests. Ichthyochory is one of the fundamental mechanisms for seed dispersal in flooded environments, as the “igapó” forests. A study on the ichthyochory of the igapós was conducted at Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve, in the middle Solimões river, from June 2002 to September 2004. Monthly samples of frugivorous fish were taken, with the main fishing gears used locally. Guts of 1,688 fish caught were examined. The main species were Myloplus rubripinnis (29.21%), Hemiodus immaculatus (18.96%),Colossoma macropom um (16.23%) and Mylossoma duriventre (16.05%). The diet was made of vegetables (fruits, leave and flowers), and animals (arthropods). 53.02% of all fish caught ingested fruits. The total number of intact seeds in the stomachs and intestines were 8,069 and 5,763 respectively. About 61.9% of the Brycon melanopterus (matrinchão), 46.34% of the Brycon amazonicus (mamuri) and 30.22% of M . rubripinnis (parum ) analysed had intact seeds in their guts. Seeds of Nectandra amazonum and Genipa spruceana ingested proved to be more viable than those non-ingested by fish. The high rates of frugivory, the presence of intact seeds in the guts of fish and the greater viability of ingested seeds all suggest that these animals are important seed dispersors in the “igapó” forests of Amanã Reserve.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Elliott ◽  
Ernest Garcia ◽  
Peter F. D. Boesman
Keyword(s):  

2005 ◽  
Vol 166 (3) ◽  
pp. 368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katul ◽  
Porporato ◽  
Nathan ◽  
Siqueira ◽  
Soons ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 775 ◽  
pp. 145197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Pineda-Pampliega ◽  
Yolanda Ramiro ◽  
Amparo Herrera-Dueñas ◽  
Monica Martinez-Haro ◽  
José Manuel Hernández ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loreto Martínez‐Baroja ◽  
Lorenzo Pérez‐Camacho ◽  
Pedro Villar‐Salvador ◽  
Salvador Rebollo ◽  
Alexandro B. Leverkus ◽  
...  

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